1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus. More particularly, the present invention relates to an image processing apparatus configured to create a three-dimensional (3D) image, as well as to a processing method for the same, and a program causing a computer to execute the method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Previously, 3D image display technology has been proposed, which enables an image to be displayed on a display apparatus and made to appear three-dimensional (i.e., stereoscopic) to the user. For example, a 3D image display method has been proposed wherein a 3D image made up of left-eye images and right-eye images (hereinafter also referred to as left and right images) alternately arranged on single horizontal lines is displayed on the screen of a display apparatus with an affixed polarizing filter. The polarizing filter herein is made up of a filter for the left eye and a filter for the right eye, with the right-eye filter being affixed to the portion where right-eye images are displayed, and the left-eye filter being affixed to the portion where the left-eye images are displayed. In so doing, a user wearing polarizing glasses see the right-eye images entering his or her right eye, and the left-eye images entering his or her left eye. One proposed 3D image display method that utilizes parallax between right-eye images and left-eye images is, for example, the μPol (pronounced micropol) technique, which allows a 3D image displayed on a screen to appear three-dimensional (see, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-215326, FIG. 1).
However, in the above μPol technique, if the polarizing filter is not affixed at the correct position with respect to the positions of pixels on the screen, the images entering either eye are not correctly separated. In this case, clean 3D images are no longer seen (in other words, cross-talk occurs).
Consequently, methods have been proposed wherein, for example, machinery and equipment are used to align and affix the polarizing filter at the correct position with respect to the screen of the display apparatus before shipment (see, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-75773, FIG. 7).